Merriam vs Shawnee

A side-by-side comparison of Merriam and Shawnee: population, income, housing, and more.

Merriam and Shawnee are places in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Shawnee has the higher population (68,175 vs 11,036 in Merriam). Shawnee has the higher median household income ($106,312 vs $71,665 in Merriam). Shawnee has the higher median home value ($332,900 vs $242,400 in Merriam).

Population, income & housing

	Merriam	Shawnee
Population	11,036	68,175
Median age	38.0 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$71,665	$106,312
Median home value	$242,400	$332,900
Median gross rent	$1,161	$1,233
Housing units	5,370	26,811
Homeownership rate	61.9%	73.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.5%	52.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merriam	Shawnee
Population	11,185 → 11,036 (-1.3%)	65,540 → 68,175 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$63,806 → $71,665 (+12.3%)	$87,120 → $106,312 (+22.0%)
Median home value	$169,400 → $242,400 (+43.1%)	$237,500 → $332,900 (+40.2%)
Median gross rent	$945 → $1,161 (+22.9%)	$1,008 → $1,233 (+22.3%)

Merriam

Population

11,18511,036

Median household income

$63,806$71,665

Median home value

$169,400$242,400

Median gross rent

$945$1,161

Shawnee

Population

65,54068,175

Median household income

$87,120$106,312

Median home value

$237,500$332,900

Median gross rent

$1,008$1,233

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merriam	Shawnee
Under 5	4.9%	6.3%
5 to 17	13.4%	18.1%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.3%
25 to 34	20.0%	13.2%
35 to 44	11.6%	14.1%
45 to 54	9.4%	13.5%
55 to 64	15.4%	11.7%
65 to 74	10.6%	9.0%
75 and over	7.0%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merriam	Shawnee
White (non-Hispanic)	76.8%	78.0%
Black or African American	6.6%	6.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.0%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.6%	9.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merriam	Shawnee
No high school diploma	3.6%	4.0%
High school graduate	22.0%	15.6%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	27.5%	34.0%
Graduate or professional degree	13.9%	18.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merriam	Shawnee
Drove alone	75.1%	73.5%
Carpooled	5.2%	5.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.2%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.9%	18.3%
Other means	0.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merriam	Shawnee
1-unit, detached	62.6%	71.3%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	7.5%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	21.0%	12.2%
20 or more units	5.7%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Merriam	Shawnee
Poverty rate	8.2%	5.4%
Average household size	2.10	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1970	1988